


Back Up Plans

by hypothetical_otters



Category: Doctor Who, Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 20:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypothetical_otters/pseuds/hypothetical_otters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically how series 1 episode 6 would maybe have gone if sam was the master. Many people have done this before, this is my take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Up Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Neither life on mars or doctor who belong to me, I'm just borrowing the characters. Basically, if you see anything you recognise, it's not mine; i just like the idea of Sam being the master.  
> Unbeta'd so mistakes are all mine.

They’re going to die anyway, why are they so scared of getting shot and life ending quickly? It’s not like that’s the worst way to go, he’d tell them, but the looks he’d get off Gene and Annie wouldn’t be worth it. Even in his, supposed, final moments he doesn’t really want to be thought of as mad, even though that descriptor fits him so perfectly.

Annie tells them to think of a good memory, because you get flashbacks when you die. Again, Sam could tell them a few things about that, the truth of death. Pain as you are ripped apart on a cellular level, then the darkness, then everything is thrown into sharp focus, for him at least. That wouldn’t happen to Gene or Annie or Chris or Ray or any of them, unless they had an old fob watch hidden away somewhere.

Sam doesn’t tell them any of his hard won secrets about death, instead he plays along with Annie’s faith and hope. He thinks of school, not the lessons or his family, just his best friend. Theta, who copied his work because he thought school was a load of brainwashing bollocks. Sam remembers skipping class, knowing they’d get in so much trouble if they were caught. It wasn’t just them either, sometimes Romana joined them, sometimes rani, but more often than not it was just the two of them. He thinks of home, before it got complicated and war tore through the city. The fields of red, the spires of the buildings, and the sunsets. He reminisces and doesn’t notice Annie asking him what his best memory is. He can’t talk about home or school, they wouldn’t understand. He pulls some lie about hearing his father whistling on his fourth birthday, and wasn’t that a long time ago he thinks to himself. Somehow they believe him, and let him wallow in his memories.

If he times this right, gets the guy to shoot him first, he can survive. He can regenerate, take the man out and no one else has to get hurt. As he thinks, a small voice, one from his past, tells him he is becoming more like them. He hits the sides of his head with the heels of his hands.

“Just this once, everybody lives.” He says, and Gene and Annie both stare at him as if he’s mad.

“In case you’ve forgotten Tyler, there’s a psycho out there who is going to shoot us all.”

“Not if my plan works."

“No plan is that good Sam.”

He gives up after that. Sam knows his plan is going to work, it has to, he’s sure of it. So he doesn’t bother explaining it to them, because they wouldn’t understand. So he sits there and waits for Reg to come and shoot them. There’s silence for a few moments before that is disturbed by the drums.

All too soon the time comes. Sam tells Cole to shoot him first, he closes his eyes and expects pain. None arrives and he opens one eye slightly. Litton has broken the door down and shot Cole. The drums subside a little, not that they ever really leave, and remarkably no one died.


End file.
